My husband didn't believe me about FP+

[danny1649]

Fellow Dis Board Members , I never thought this thread would last this long. So my congratulations to you all. I will not join discussion, because as Moderator we are not here to defend , praise , or define WDW policies. I know this is a hot issue on Board. Maybe a few snarky replies , very few. Great discussion on subject. So please keep up the great discussion . I thought this thread would go south quickly , it has not. Sincere Thanks Danny PS I have not received 1 report on this thread.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

Whether it's a good system or not, it certainly encourages you to book into a Disney resort to try to get the perks. Good strategy there; also with the new system, I found my days a lot more inflexible, so I was not able to accomplish as much. Thus, it did not leave me time to stray off Disney property to visit other venues. Good marketing for Disney.
I don't like to get up early, I'm on vacation; I don't like being locked into a schedule, once again, I'm on vacation from schedules. As a result, I won't do as much as I have in the past, but that's ok, I've reconciled myself to that. Instead of making me spend more time and money at Disney World, however, it's caused me to spend less. I will book only 3 days instead of a week+, I will not buy into the DVC as I have been planning, and I am now going back to staying offsite for the rest of my trip in order to do other things and have more down time. After 1 stressful (for me and my family) trip under the new system, I will approach it from a different angle and figure oh well, we'll get it next time.
ETA: I'll probably only book a couple of fast passes that we really want, like Toy Story and ToT, I really didn't care for the Mine Train (sorry, it was ok but not worth all the hoopla) maybe just hit the mountains at MK, but that's about all and I won't stay up for it. If I get it, fine. Once people go, and are either delighted or disappointed by the new system, they'll figure out what works best for their touring preferences. For me, less is more.

 

[ash_xox]

I bet that can be bad too. There is NOwhere for people to go waiting to get past that first check point. I noticed at that ride they couldn't get people past the Second checkpoint fast enough to load the trains, and trains were leaving unfilled. Which then leads to longer FP lines.

At Splash, they gave up on the the second checkpoint just to get people loaded quickly.

A few weeks ago, I went on EE for the first time. Before riding I asked the CM how steep the drop is because I was a nervous wreck. After assuring me it wasn't worse than Splash the CM ushered my friend and I onto the line. When we got to the loading area we were told we were in the FP+ line and had to re-queue. We planned to go into AK early, ride EE, and get back on the turnpike immediately to go home to Ft Laud. We didn't have time to wait again. Of course the CM at the top of the line didn't care. He just told us to get off the line and stand to the side. We waited for a minutes and then they did a shift change. Our CM was now standing at the train and another was queueing. The new guy waved us right on, original CM gave us a dirty look (we ended up first row oops!) as our train took off, and I've never screamed louder on a roller coaster in. My. Life. I didn't even bring my magic band into the park,let alone get a FP+.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Back to the subject at hand...I just wonder whether the situation has worsened when it comes to the availability of headliners. Last year, I missed my 60-day window by
about a week (inexcusable, I know -- I was on a weeklong trip with no internet access, and, frankly, I forgot anyway). When I finally woke up and started to book my FP+, I managed to get 7DMT on a Saturday! A minor miracle, although it wasn't available for any of the other eight days of our WDW visit. I was also able to get TSMM and other headliners anytime I wanted.

So either the situation has gotten worse, or I got lucky when someone gave up one of their Dwarves FPs. If it's getting worse, I have to wonder why. If it's up to luck, I do think this should be less of a crapshoot.

 

[wisblue]

This isn't my original idea, but I agree with the explanation that tight FP availability for a few of the most popular attractions comes from the combination of shorter park hours (especially on party nights) and high onsite occupancy resulting from free dining and special events.

If the MK is open from 9 AM until midnight, as it often is during peak seasons, that's 15 hours of operation. If the MK has a party starting at 7, and they cut off FPs at 6:30 PM, that allows for only 9.5 hours of FPs, or a reduction of 37%. Even though overall park attendance may be lower, the number of onsite guests going after that lower number of FPs may not be much different than during peak seasons.

I'll be making FP reservations tonight for a short trip over the Wine and Dine Marathon Weekend, and will be interested to see what's available.

 

[Mkrop]

Back to the subject at hand...I just wonder whether the situation has worsened when it comes to the availability of headliners. Last year, I missed my 60-day window by
about a week (inexcusable, I know -- I was on a weeklong trip with no internet access, and, frankly, I forgot anyway). When I finally woke up and started to book my FP+, I managed to get 7DMT on a Saturday! A minor miracle, although it wasn't available for any of the other eight days of our WDW visit. I was also able to get TSMM and other headliners anytime I wanted.

So either the situation has gotten worse, or I got lucky when someone gave up one of their Dwarves FPs. If it's getting worse, I have to wonder why. If it's up to luck, I do think this should be less of a crapshoot.

As I said earlier I think time of year plays a role, but I also think more people are getting more savvy and educated about how to book FP+. Most people were probably just taking what WDW gave them, now they know they can go in and change it. Then someone said ooh try booking your last days first, and now you have us in the know here and on other boards (apparently ) trying this same trick so they get gobbled up faster

 

[DisneyOma]

We were just there at WDW a few weeks ago, crowd levels higher than 5 for the entire trip - and we got FP+ online for 7DMT, and SDFP+ too. If we were lucky, then we've been lucky every time we've used FP+. Are people going back into the system and adjusting their selections to see what pops up? We do this a lot and get everything we want, if not at the time we want, at least within an hour of our timeframe. We added days to our tickets this past trip, so had to get a few FP+ with just a few days before their use. Four days full of good FP+, including TT, BTMRR, Splash, etc.

 

[Mkrop]

We were just there at WDW a few weeks ago, crowd levels higher than 5 for the entire trip - and we got FP+ online for 7DMT, and SDFP+ too. If we were lucky, then we've been lucky every time we've used FP+. Are people going back into the system and adjusting their selections to see what pops up? We do this a lot and get everything we want, if not at the time we want, at least within an hour of our timeframe. We added days to our tickets this past trip, so had to get a few FP+ with just a few days before their use. Four days full of good FP+, including TT, BTMRR, Splash, etc.

We tried to add/change stuff and did not have the experience you did, our choices were stinky in our opinion...no headliners to be found. Got Magic Carpet Rides with no issue lol

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

We were just there at WDW a few weeks ago, crowd levels higher than 5 for the entire trip - and we got FP+ online for 7DMT, and SDFP+ too. If we were lucky, then we've been lucky every time we've used FP+. Are people going back into the system and adjusting their selections to see what pops up? We do this a lot and get everything we want, if not at the time we want, at least within an hour of our timeframe. We added days to our tickets this past trip, so had to get a few FP+ with just a few days before their use. Four days full of good FP+, including TT, BTMRR, Splash, etc.

We're going the first week of October. I didn't have any problem making my FP choices 60 days out, but I didn't need A&E FP and we're staying 10 nights. I don't spend too much time on FP between 60 days out and our vacation. (I might try to make changes once we get there.) I do know that I can't really make any changes to our 7DMT though.

What I find most interesting is how availability changes by season. Even though summer should be busier, the long park hours and higher percentage of offsite guests seem to improve availability. In October, MK is only closes early for MNSSHP 4 nights a week. We just didn't have a lot of luck being able to make changes or add additional FP last year. I'm hoping that our experience will be better this year.

 

[crostorfer]

We're going the first week of October. I didn't have any problem making my FP choices 60 days out, but I didn't need A&E FP and we're staying 10 nights. I don't spend too much time on FP between 60 days out and our vacation. (I might try to make changes once we get there.) I do know that I can't really make any changes to our 7DMT though.

What I find most interesting is how availability changes by season. Even though summer should be busier, the long park hours and higher percentage of offsite guests seem to improve availability. In October, MK is only closes early for MNSSHP 4 nights a week. We just didn't have a lot of luck being able to make changes or add additional FP last year. I'm hoping that our experience will be better this year.

We are going to be there at the same time. I have not made one FP+ reservation, and I'm not going to. This trip will be an experiment, I'm only going to try for same-day availability. I have very good luck with ADR's that way, gobbling up people's cancellations, so I'm applying the same strategy to the FP system. I'll report back results.

 

[ash_xox]

That's weird. Space just broke down on us this past trip after we had scanned at both FP points, and we got paper anytime FPs that were good for a week. It has happened to us on TSMM as well and we got the same thing (on a previous trip but with FP+) Maybe that is just something they don't do at Dumbo?

Same basic thing happened to me on Winnie the Pooh last year. It was POURING (middle of august) and the CMs seemed too overwhelmed at turning away people/dealing w people running for cover under the shelter of the queue, etc to even differentiate who had a FP+ and who didnt.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Same basic thing happened to me on Winnie the Pooh last year. It was POURING (middle of august) and the CMs seemed too overwhelmed at turning away people/dealing w people running for cover under the shelter of the queue, etc to even differentiate who had a FP+ and who didnt.

I could see that happening, especially in the crazy rainstorms, ugh.

 

[disneyseniors]

We are going to be there at the same time. I have not made one FP+ reservation, and I'm not going to. This trip will be an experiment, I'm only going to try for same-day availability. I have very good luck with ADR's that way, gobbling up people's cancellations, so I'm applying the same strategy to the FP system. I'll report back results.

Crostofer,, let us know how it goes without fp's and same day scheduling? I am going to make my fp+ selections in a week, and am nervous about the availability of my favorites now! I don't have a smart phone, so will have to go to concierge or kiosks to see if fp's are available if I can't get the ones I want. Please let us know how this worked for you thanks!

 

[Disneylover99]

We just got back from an 18 day stay. We went to the parks every day and we booked our fp's 60 days out, so I had multiple TSMM and SDMT fp's.

During the first week, (Aug. 16-23) it was really hard to change fp's to anything half decent. So if we decided the night before to change parks the following day, it really wasn't worth it, if we wanted to rely on fp's.

Crowds were much lighter the second week (Aug. 23-30). There was still some availability for more popular rides later in the evening if you wanted to change fp's first thing in the morning.

Aug. 31 - Sept 3, fp wasn't necessary in any of the parks except for on a few rides. It was easy to make fp's for rides like Space Mountain and Big Thunder, even into the evening with the park closing at 10pm or 11pm. But again fp's weren't even necessary.

Crowd levels really do have a huge impact on fp availability. Of course, I knew that to be true before, but I really noticed it more this trip since we started off in parks with crowd levels of 9 or 10 and ended with crowd levels of 1 or 2.

 

[bcrook]

One piece of good advice was to wait for the 45 day window when people cancel their vacations. I forgot to do it. Not very successful at the 48 or 40 day mark.

 

[bcrook]

I'm seeing lots of people making assertions or drawing conclusions about the number of people who like/dislike/benefit/suffer around various aspects of FP+, FP legacy, and pre-FP. I haven't seen any data that can really back that up. Often these conclusions are based on what other people say here - which is hardly a statistically valid sample.

I don't know whether there are more people who dislike FP+ than like it, or vice versa. I don't know whether the complaints have reached the level of "let's keep an eye on it" or "we need to fix it" or "we need to fix it now." I don't know how the complaints balance against the surveys - if the complaints against FP+ are up by 5% over FP legacy, but the general satisfaction surveys are up by 10% over pre-FP+, then the large number of complaints won't be enough to sway things.

I appreciate the various opinions, as well as what people have learned about strategy under the current system. But I'll need more data before I can give any weight to assertions about what Disney must do or what aspects must be fixed.

When I talk to the managers at the resorts and customer service agents they are less than supportive of the system. They are diplomatic but don't seemed surprised at all of my questions, complaints, and grievances. . They encourage me to write reports. Sometimes, a "we hear a lot of that..." Slips out. I've been three times now the with MM+ (Working on #4) and a number of problems have kept the CMs and me very busy. The CMs seem exasperated to me. I've spent several hours on the phone with managers trying to straighten out my fastpass and reservation issues. They are apologetic. They can't even fix a lot of problems and have to transfer people to the IT help desk.

I don't hear much praise about the system from CMs while in the park. Even the kiosk Hawks are in over their heads.

While I completely understand how the system benefits a large number of people, it has provided me and the CMs an endless set of new problems to deal with. I gain absolutely no benefits from the program. None!

 

[bcrook]

Whether it's a good system or not, it certainly encourages you to book into a Disney resort to try to get the perks. Good strategy there; also with the new system, I found my days a lot more inflexible, so I was not able to accomplish as much. Thus, it did not leave me time to stray off Disney property to visit other venues. Good marketing for Disney.
I don't like to get up early, I'm on vacation; I don't like being locked into a schedule, once again, I'm on vacation from schedules. As a result, I won't do as much as I have in the past, but that's ok, I've reconciled myself to that. Instead of making me spend more time and money at Disney World, however, it's caused me to spend less. I will book only 3 days instead of a week+, I will not buy into the DVC as I have been planning, and I am now going back to staying offsite for the rest of my trip in order to do other things and have more down time. After 1 stressful (for me and my family) trip under the new system, I will approach it from a different angle and figure oh well, we'll get it next time.
ETA: I'll probably only book a couple of fast passes that we really want, like Toy Story and ToT, I really didn't care for the Mine Train (sorry, it was ok but not worth all the hoopla) maybe just hit the mountains at MK, but that's about all and I won't stay up for it. If I get it, fine. Once people go, and are either delighted or disappointed by the new system, they'll figure out what works best for their touring preferences. For me, less is more.

I agree about mine train. Zzzzzz. But, I was intrigued by your mountain comment. It makes me happy that you didn't include the Mine Train as a mountain. I'm going to start doing that too whether Disney thinks it is one or not! Lol.

 

[magicbob]

There were so many of us on these boards (and other forums) who spelled out the likely problems of FP+
years ago when it was first being spelled out.

Yes, we did. And we were scorned and ridiculed for making such outrageous, naysaying, doom and gloom predictions.

Now that everything we predicted has to come to pass... we are still scorned and ridiculed, being told that FP+ is fabulous and it's only our bad attitudes or the fact that we can no longer abuse the system by selfishly hoarding legacy FPs that's to blame for our negative perception of FP+.